rewrite this content and keep HTML tags
Amir Khan has spoken to World Boxing News ahead of former opponent Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s clash with William Scull on DAZN PPV.
Canelo aims to become a two-weight undisputed champion when the Mexican superstar puts his WBC, WBO, and WBA super middleweight titles up for grabs against the IBF belt holder.
Khan faced Canelo in 2016 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas after moving up two weight classes. He lost a WBC middleweight title bid via a sixth-round stoppage.
The now-retired Khan has urged his ex-foe not to pull punches or underestimate the unknown challenger.
Despite being undefeated, it’s tough to gauge how good the 23-0 Cuban is from those he’s brushed aside. His best win came against a 16-0 Vladimir Shishkin when he scored a unanimous decision in Germany last October.
Of those 23 wins, he only boasts nine knockouts.
WBN asked Khan how he sees Canelo coping with his Saudi Arabia debut on Saturday. The Bolton man agreed it was hard to call without seeing too much footage of Scull.
“I don’t know much about Scull, to be honest. It’s like the unknown for Canelo,” Khan exclusively told World Boxing News. “But look, every fight is a hard fight at this level.
“If Canelo underestimates Scull, who knows? Canelo is only getting older. Let’s hope he’s not gotten too old where he’s going to start getting beaten against this kind of challenge, against Scull.
Scull is from the Cuban school of boxing and came up the hard way, and Khan pointed to a previous fight in which Canelo struggled against that style of fighting.
“Sometimes people overlook Cuban boxing,” he stated. “You only have to look at every Cuban that has turned professional, from the heavyweight [Frank Sanchez] to [Yuriorkis] Gamboa, but not only that, the Cuban I fought in the amateurs [Mario Kindelan, who defeated Khan in the Olympic final before losing to the Briton in a pro rematch].
“We have to give these Cubans respect. They are good fighters, skillful. Let’s not forget that Canelo had a hard fight against Erislandy Lara.”
Friday’s weigh-in saw Canelo weigh 167.1 lbs. IBF super middleweight champion Scull came in at 166.1 lbs. The winner walks out with four world titles and onto a massive American fight in the fall.
Facing Scull is a far cry from Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, or Sergey Kovalev. However, it’s a means to an end for the 62-2-2 future Hall of Famer.
A victory for Canelo would set up a massive, undisputed super middleweight title battle with Terence Crawford in September. Chris Eubank Jr. would then be a possibility for the UK in May.
Watch Canelo Alvarez vs William Scull live on DAZN Pay-Per-View on May 3. Martin Bakole vs Efe Ajagba and Jaime Munguia vs. Bruno Surace II top the Canelo vs. Scull undercard.
The boxing TV schedule for this weekend begins with Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, Devin Haney vs. Jose Carlos Ramirez, and Teofimo Lopez vs. Arnold Barboza Jr. available as part of a DAZN subscription bundle.
Sign up for the WBN Newsletter for free and get daily news directly in your email. Never miss a story.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay and learn more about the author, an experienced boxing writer and World Boxing News Editor since 2010
